I sang a little while and then flew on.

I saw the 15th, 20th and 23rd of the run and imo this was the best. 88 was a lackluster year from what I saw but this one had some appeal. The setlist is decent with the only Louie I saw and with all the party favors I heard some good music being played. Short show but pretty decent. Not epic though. I don't think any show of that tour is epic. Correct me if I'm wrong. 88 was a meh year imo.

I'll tell you what I have to agree that its tough to pick out any show from 87 or 88 that was standout, they were all great. (Though Telluride does standout for me) This show here sounds great and I have no complaints at all. A bad Morning Dew??? Good God there wasn't a bad morning dew on record until the 90's when Jerry would forget the words but the music was always on...The Althea wasnt so fantastik that it needed to be mentioned, I dont get it...The whole show sounds great though. Thanks to all those tapers, including me, and especially those who are posting this shit, Not me....

I agree with the Louie Louie, some songs the Dead were not meant to do, I Fought the Law was another. Having said that, out of the 100+ Dead shows I've seen, I always thought this was the best Looks Like Rain and Terrapin I ever saw the GD do. The Terrapin may have been surpassed by the Terrapin Suite I saw Furthur do at the Vibes last summer.

the louie louie is just as bad as i remember it being that night. thank god they came to their senses and dropped that one fast.

otherwise, this is really a fine show. i recall it feeling very up-tempo and rocking at the time. this was really fun.

pretty good sound i think

Never saw 'em in the Apple, but with a long series of shows at the Garden like this, you know they loved playing there.

Always a treat when they trotted out the old warhorses like The CumberLand Blues and Truckin', and when the everybody in the house is singin' "what a long, strange a trip it's been," with the men on stage committing to it 100%, I dare you to keep a smile from stretching across your face. During the solo in Bertha, things get a tad sloppy, but who gives a shit? With a kick-in-the-ass set-opener like that, nothing else in the world mattered at that point. And I'll be damned if Jerry and Brent don't make you actually WANT to get thrown in the jailhouse.

Gotta disagree: Morning Dew is not unlistenable. There is a bass bomb at the start of the tune which detracts from the overall delivery, but to categorize this as unlistenable makes me wonder just what the hell IS listenable.

It's easy for a show to get lost in 1988, there were so many.

This is as good as it gets for this year. My top 5 of 88 would be 3/27,3/28 Hampton, Rochester 6/30, MSG 9/20 (This show) and probably one of the Maine shows from the Summer (take your pick).

PS- Get the other download of the 1st set, and add it to this one for set #2. Both must have's.

1st set: Gots to dig the clunker of a "'Star Spangled Banner' tease considering we're opening with the all-American "Jack." And after five long minutes of tuning we're left with an underwhelming "Jack." Jerry's pronounciations while singing "Althea" are delightful, and his playing isn't half-bad either. "Mama"'s a decent shoulder-shifter. "River" keeps the feet moving whereas "Peggy"'s quite sturdy...these mid-tempos are shooting higher scores than the uppers. Oy...I thought we were all "Louie"'d out, but apparently they're determined to not play 'Music.' Anyways, an awfully odd MIDI-like solo is the only saving grace. Ooopsy, there's my "Music." Even though Jerry's been shooting Cupid-like daggers to my heart all night, the version is Not a blockbuster, just doesn't catch fire.

2nd Set: "Bertha"'s set at a nice pace, always agreeable but not rousing during the 'jailhouse' moments. The feet continue tapping during a visit to a well-strung along version of "Cumberland." Instead of seguing into the maudlin torpor of "LLR" (worthy, but not 9/14) why not stay with the industrial theme with a 'Smokestack' "Terrpin" is akin to 'LLR' in that it pounds and my hands thrust, but it ain't at 12/15's , I believe it was, level. No melody exists other than T's so we march into "Drums." An African campfire tribal ceremony. "Space" is the norm but gets awfully quiet as the band collectively mar over the transition. "Truckin" is more interesting for the vocalists interpretations than the music. "GDTRFB" is a smooth ride save for the much-needed friction in the late 4's, early 5's. Hmmmm...another "Dew" to munch on. Direct, no dalliances or exploratory sidetracking adventures but a tense perf.

Alright, the first "Johnny" in a long while. It's butt-shaking; thanks to Brent for the brass and woodwind section. Hot sweaty lay-down by Phil all song long.

3 2/5ths

I initially streamed this show strictly for the Louie Louie. The rest of the show is quite good as well. Nice versions of Althea, Peggy-O, Masterpiece, and MNS. 2nd set pre drums is cool too. Especially the unusual (for the time) placement of Bertha>Cumberland.The sound of this is very good and I did not notice any post drums problems mentioned by a previous reviewer.
Come for the Louie Louie, Stay for the rest of the show.

skip @ 1:20 Mama Tried
Disc 2 is bad begining at GDTRFB...unlistenable by AM Dew
Louie Louie still makes this one wort the dowload:)

This is a good, solid show at MSG. Peggy-O, Looks Like rain and terrapin are all sick as hell. Phil sounds really good, and his bass can be easily heard. I think it is around this point in time in which the dead start gaining some momentum up until the summer of 90.

So if you really like this era of dead i would recommend you dl it. Actually, you should dl it anyways. Sound quality is very good.